Postlude: a Story, for the Moment
by Aurin Lucerius
Summary: A story of hope in a dead world. The Family and the Saved struggle to survive through disease, famine, further destruction, and dangerous confrontations with the Caesars and the Scavengers in a post apocalyptic world.
1. Introduction and Background Information

Introduction to Postlude:

"Postlude: a Play, for the Moment..." is a short, one-act play by Jerome McDonough. It is based in a post-apocalyptic earth, perhaps far in the future or maybe just tomorrow. Widespread disease, war, anarchy, and other generally chaotic occurrences have wiped out civilization as we know it, leaving only small remnants of what had once existed. However, even in the world of the selfish, power hungry Caesars and the cannibalistic subhuman Scavengers, hope remains in the hearts of the Family and the Saved. All in all, Postlude presents a theme of hope in the midst of severe devastation and stresses the importance of family and togetherness, all the while not ignoring the reality of loss and betrayal.

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Kimi says:

Hey, so this is my first story here. I know it probably will suck, but I like to write, so I'm doing it anyway. Anywho, this is basically a rewrite of Jerome McDonough's Postlude, from play to story format. My school performed Postlude for a one-act competition, and I fell in love with it. I was on lights crew, so I really am not the most immersed in the play itself, but I DID run the spotlight on the "good" characters. So basically, I wanted to see if I could pull this off, retelling one of my favorite stories in a different way. The storyline and much of the dialog is mostly the same, but lots has to be changed and parts have to be twisted to make sense, some much more than others. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

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Characters:

The Silent Woman: an angelic figure, mysterious, but not suspicious.

The Family:  
Patteren: parent of Virghu, but fatherly figure over the whole group.  
Madra: Virghu's mother, the worrier and realist.  
Virghu: daughter of Patteren and Madra, the hopeful optimist.

The Saved:  
Hulaf: the Infected, very sick but a good-hearted man, caring and very hopeful.  
Diram: the Burning Woman, taunted by constant memories of the flames that destroyed her village.  
Nanchet: the Scarred, a war veteran who keeps a tough exterior but is far from cold-hearted.  
Innoce: the Child, youngest of the group, representing innocence but not quite ignorance.

The Caesars:  
King Jackal: greedy leader of the Caesars, comes from a line of kings and rulers.  
Temptress: seductive follower of Jackal, uses others and twists them to her own purposes.  
Despot: once a military leader, can't wait for his opportunity to take King Jackal's place.

The Scavengers:  
Covet: synonymous with "greed", represents one of the seven deadly sins.  
Licentious: perfectly described by his name, meaning "lacking moral or sexual restraint".  
Muerta: her name, "death", epitomizes for what she is best known.


	2. The Silent Woman

The apocalypse. The end of the world. Time itself has come and gone, leaving nothing behind. Yet somehow, in the middle of all the nothingness is everything. Everything and nothing, together, both broken and incomplete. The world - once bright, colorful, and lively - now lies torn apart, ripped to pieces and left in shadow. Dead.

She walks, silently, through this disfigured, dark, depressing wasteland. She alone is light, against the cold gray sky and ground and rubble. Tattered rags clothe her, and though they are somewhat stained with dirt and blood, she appears elegant, glowing, almost magical.

The Silent Woman steps gently, gracefully through the ruins, seeming so out of place, not belonging to the world on which she is wandering. She reaches out to touch the twisted, fragile skeleton of what appears to have, at one time, been a sturdy chain link fence. Something that had protected, defended, kept one safe from that which is bad. Now it too, along with the rest of the world, has been defeated.

Travel and moving from place to place is no longer a simple matter; the ground around her is littered with random tools, broken signs, pieces of wood and metal, old torn apart furniture, and various other debris, all covered in dust, ash, and blood. In many areas, paths are completely blocked off. In others there is just enough space to get around. Regardless, not a single place escapes the devastation. Nowhere is free from the dark.

She continues walking, past a small stool with a rock replacing one of it's legs, beyond two beaten down and broken armchairs and their matching couch. Her face saddens as she catches sight of a baby cradle, lying along with all the rest of the discarded furniture. It had fallen to it's side, several of the support beams snapped. Dry blood coated the fabric inside.

Sickened by the gruesome sight, she turns quickly away, instead focusing on a large wooden lean-to next to her. A few slats were missing, but it was perhaps the least damaged of everything within several feet. She gently caresses the edge of the wall. This place is broken. It has fallen from grace. It's filled with rubble and trash and has been burned and torn down, it's absolute hell. But this place is hope. There's something about it, some feeling, perhaps a false sense of safety, security. A dead fence, but a standing lean-to. Shelter still exists. Somewhere, it exists, and as long as that still stands, maybe...maybe...

Off in the distance, a bell rang, snapping the Silent Woman back to the present. It was time to leave. She continued on her way, past the shelter and into the empty world again.


End file.
